Chaudhrys our own people, nothing will happen to them: Sh Rashid

LAHORE: Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has claimed that the Chaudhry brothers [Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi] are our own [people] and it does not seem that anything will happen to them.

He was responding to questions by the media about National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiries against the Chaudhry brothers at Railways headquarters here on Saturday.

To another question, he said Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif would not be able to go to London now. He said the PML-N chief failed to answer all questions by NAB and said all his documents were in London.

He reiterated that NAB would return as a Tarzan after Eid, and it would “play from both sides of the wicket”. He said it would bring looters in all parties in the court without any discrimination.

Sh Rashid said the role of Pakistan in the region appeared prominent and its responsibilities could increase as the world order could change after coronavirus pandemic.

“China is blaming the US and vice versa. “I suspect that India can launch a false flag operation to divert attention from its internal matters. The Kashmir issue can also further deteriorate.

“If Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks that he can harm Pakistan, it’s his misconception,” he said.

He said that atrocities against Muslim citizens in different parts of India were increasing. However, he warned, "It will be a blunder on the part of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he underestimated Pakistan and attempted to harm it," he added.

The minister said: "Credit goes to Prime Minister Imran Khan and his cabinet which pointed out illegal import of medicines from India." He assured the nation that Prime Minister Imran Khan would never spare any culprit involved in any scam, adding that he (PM) would certainly punish the culprits of sugar and flour scams after finalisation of forensic reports. To a question about investigation commission to probe the IPPs [Independent Power Producers] scam, he said it could take five to six months as a body in that regard had not been constituted yet.

He expressed his wish to restore train operation by May 10. He said that the Railways was ready to start its operations with 30 trains and the federal government had also agreed to the plan, but some provinces opposed it and the process was delayed.

He said Railways had suffered a loss of Rs5 billion due to coronavirus pandemic. “Hopefully, we will be allowed to make trains operational before Eid.

“The federal government has supported our stance to make few trains operational from May 10. We have no other source to pay our employees,” he said.

"We were operating 142 trains before lockdown, but now we are ready to resume operations with 30 trains initially in the first phase," he added.

To another question, he said strict action against senior officers concerned would be taken in case of a train accident in future.

He said that the railways was going to install electricity metres of the Lahore Electricity Supply Company (Lesco) in railway colonies till Dec 30, 2020, adding that it would be beneficial for both labours and railways.

The minister said the Railways had decided to reduce freight charges by 10 per cent on transportation of coal, fertilisers, cement and other products as the rates of sales tax had been reduced.

Thus, he added that freight charges of Rs5,000 per container wagon would be reduced after the decision.